Several setting arrangements corresponding to the foregoing generic definition are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,081 shows a blade 6 which cooperates with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 4 itself driven in rotation by a stem 1. When the stem is turned, the blade comes into repeated contact with a contact stud 10. Since the four teeth of the ratchet wheel are widely spaced apart from one another, it is foreseeable that the blade which exhibits a certain elasticity, may touch the contact stud in an untimely manner, thus giving rise to an undesirable electrical pulse and from there an unwanted setting signal should a shock be applied to the timepiece.
The setting arrangement for an electronic timepiece described in Swiss Pat. No. 642.220 likewise includes an arm 25 which, when the crowned stem is rotated, may come into repeated contact either with a first terminal 29 or with a second terminal 30 in accordance with the rotation sense of the stem. In this form also, the arm may come into untimely contact with one or the other of the mentioned terminals and thus bring about undesired setting. To overcome this difficulty, the cited arrangement provides a supplementary switch mechanism 33 which is engaged only when the stem is in the setting position, thus preventing all undesirable setting when the stem is in the rest position. This arrangement however has the disadvantage of complicating the construction and diminishing the reliability of operation of the timepiece.